The present invention is related to a game apparatus, and more particularly to an operation bar for a game table such as a soccer table and a hockey table. Several dolls are mounted on the operation bar. The dolls are drivable by the operation bar.
A soccer table or a hockey table is equipped with several operation bars. One or more dolls are mounted on each operation bar. By means of pushing and pulling and turning the operation bar, the dolls are driven to shift a ball body on the table.
The conventional operation bar is simply a bar body so that the displacement of the operation bar is exactly the displacement of the dolls. Such structure has some shortcomings. For example, it is impossible to quickly move the dolls.
Furthermore, with the soccer table exemplified, two ends of the operation bar are passed through two sides of the table body. When pushing/pulling the operation bar to drive the dolls, the operating end and rear end (the other end) of the operation bar will protrude from the table body. The room where the game table is placed must have reserve space for the protruding ends of the operation bar. Therefore, the space is wasted. Moreover, when the rear end of the operation bar protrudes from the table body, the other player on the other side of the table body may get hurt.
In order to solve the above problem, this applicant filed U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/128,299, entitled “rotary bar of game table”. The rotary bar includes an inner and an outer bars and one or more gear set disposed between the inner and outer bars. A predetermined number of dolls are fitted around the outer bar. When pushing/pulling the inner bar, via the gear set, the dolls are driven to move along the outer bar.
The gear set is such designed as to magnify the rotational speed, whereby the displacement of the dolls is greater than the displacement of the inner bar. Therefore, the moving speed of the dolls is increased. Also, in operation, the rear end of the rotary bar will not protrude from the table body so that the reserved space is reduced. In addition, the other player is protected from being collided and hurt.
However, the above Patent Application still has some shortcomings. A certain number of dolls are mounted on the rotary bar of the table body, for example, one to five. In the case that five dolls are mounted on the rotary bar, a short displacement of the rotary bar will make the displacement range of the dolls covers the entire table body. In the case of one doll, it will be necessary for the rotary bar to move by a considerably long distance to make the displacement range of the doll cover the entire table body. With respect to the rotary bar with short displacement, only one gear set is necessary. However, With respect to the rotary bar with long displacement, multiple gear sets must be disposed in the rotary bar at equal intervals for one by one transmitting power to the doll and moving the same.
In the case of multiple gear sets, the power can be hardly truly transmitted to the doll. Moreover, it is hard to install multiple gear sets and the cost is higher.